The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has distanced itself from claims that dead people could somehow influence election outcomes.This came after UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar made remarks suggesting that “even the dead would rise to ensure President William Ruto wins”, sparking widespread discussion across the country.IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukwana moved quickly to clarify that Kenya's voting system simply does not allow such a scenario, since the biometric voter registration system relies entirely on fingerprints and iris scans to confirm a person's identity at the polling station.“Biometric machines use fingerprints and iris scans. How will the deceased vote? How will they register?,” Mukhwana stated.Without a live fingerprint or iris match, the system automatically locks out any attempt to cast a vote on someone's behalf, thus Mukhwana insisted that a deceased Kenyan cannot register as a new voter, and their existing details cannot be reactivated once death has been reported.The electoral body explained that these safeguards were designed specifically to prevent the very kind of rigging fears that Hassan Omar's comments had stirred.An independent audit of Kenya's voter register, conducted by KPMG ahead of the 2022 general election, uncovered widespread anomalies, revealing that the IEBC contained 246,465 records of deceased individuals still listed as active voters.The audit also flagged significant duplication in the register, with 481,711 voters found to be registered more than once. Separately, investigators discovered 226,143 voters had registered using identification documents that did not genuinely or validly belong to them.Further scrutiny revealed that 164,269 individuals had used invalid national IDs or passports to register. Together, these findings prompted IEBC officials to announce plans to purge roughly 1.18 million questionable entries from the voter roll before the election in June 2022.In the defense of the Kenya Kwanza administration, the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi also dismissed Omar’s sentiments on Sunday, stating that President Ruto does not need any election results manipulation, and will win squarely based on the 7.2 million votes he got in 2022, and the 7 million votes from the Former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga’s support base. “The remarks on using dead voters were reckless. President William Ruto does not need to steal elections to be President. Ruto got 7.2M votes in 2022, Railaon the other hand got 7 million votes, that is 14 million in total," Mudavadi stated. Omar’s remarks also come as Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua accused the IEBC of tailoring a Ksh 6.5 billion technology tender for a South Korean firm, alleging kickbacks, unrealistic timelines before the 2027 polls, and the transfer of 20-plus officials who resisted the specifications.In this regard, Commissioner Mukhwana, beyond the technical explanation, used the moment to caution politicians against careless remarks that could damage public trust in the Commission.
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